Romance and Recipes--Review of "Too Blessed to Be Stressed Cookbook" byDebora M. Coty

I am not usually one to use cookbooks. When I cook, it is usually something that I learned from my mom, who learned from my grandfather or adapted from one of the other relatives, like her lasagna which she based on my Aunt Millie's lasagna. Recently, I decided to expand my cooking horizons and since my food-based posts tend to be well liked (or at least well viewed), I thought I'd review some of the cookbooks I'm trying out. The first one is Too Blessed to be Stressed by Debora, M. Coty. If you can't guess from the title, this is a Christian cookbook (apparently, Christians need Jesus's approval on what foods they cook), but aside from a few quotes and one very judgmental anecdote (more on that later), you wouldn't know this is written by a Christian for Christians.

One of the things that drew me towards this specific cookbook was that the meals are supposed to be quick. Upon reading the book, that is not the case. There are some recipes that require a slow cooker and a good 8-10 hours to cook. I don't own a slow cooker as I don't particularly like slow cooked foods. They always come out looking like dog food and tasting like something scraped off the bottom of a kid's shoe, which if the anecdotes in this book are to be believed is something the author did when her toddler stepped on the cake she baked for a church function. That's just gross.

I did like Ms. Coty's writing style. She didn't talk down to readers, who like me, are probably just starting out learning how to cook from a cookbook. She explains what recipes can stand substitutions (such as using margarine instead of butter) and which ones cannot. She also assumes that everyone has cooking disasters, recounting the time she turned her chili into a rubbery, inedible mess (on Christmas, no less).

One of the things I really liked was that the recipes were written in a way that was easy to understand and I cannot wait to try her banana pudding (I need to do some shopping first).

I also liked that the recipes run the gamut from breakfast to desert, from Breakfast Quesadillas to French Chocolate Cake. The only problem is that the ebook doesn't have a Table of Contents to take you from section to section, so if you want to find a particular recipe you need to figure out where in the book it is located and guesstimate how far into the book it is. That, unfortunately, is stressful.

As I mentioned above, for the most part, you wouldn't know that Ms. Coty was writing this for the Christ Crowd. Although she includes quotes from the Bible, she also uses quotes from Roseanne, Julia Child, and Charles Schultz as well. I also mentioned however, that there is one very judgmental anecdote and I feel like I need to address it. One of the kitchen disasters she recounts is about making a cheesecake off of a recipe in a magazine. It was made with low fat and guilt free ingredients and looked amazing. Then, everyone tried it and realized that it tasted like soggy cardboard (now, many people would ask how she knows what cardboard tastes like, but having grown up in the Catholic Church, I can attest to a certain integral part of the mass that does in fact taste like cardboard). I was laughing as I read this right up until I got to the end, where Ms. Coty compares her less than stellar tasting desert to Christians being tempted by nice looking religions. She says that on the outside the other religions look pretty, but once you delve deeper into them, they're flat. Excuse me?! Who the hell are you to judge other religions? How would you like it if a Jew or a Muslim said that your Christian denomination looked pretty, but couldn't compare to their glorious religion? I bet you'd be spitting nails and calling for their heads on a platter. Personally, I'm an atheist and I find all religions lacking in logic, but I don't go around telling people that they're morons because they see logic in what I don't. That's because I know how offensive that is. Not everyone thinks the same way you do, Ms. Coty (and seeing as you mentioned being married slightly longer than my parents have, you're old enough to know better than the criticize people based on your religious beliefs. Shame on you.)

Even if I screw up the banana pudding (as I tend to have issues baking from scratch), my rating for this cookbook will stay the same because I know that I have a history of screwing up the easiest deserts and that in no way impacts the author's skills.

Most readers remember their first, the first book of their particular genre that they read, whether they enjoyed the book or not. I have two firsts--the first romance I ever read was a Harlequin Intrigue written by Amanda Stevens. If you've read my blog before you probably already know this. The first historical romance I read was Mesmerized by Candace Camp, which was also the first book in her Mad Morelands series.

I was a senior in high school when this series began and I remember seeing the paperback version of Mesmerized on the shelf at the Target on Queens Blvd (yes, I spent a lot of time on Queens Blvd as a teenager), and was pulled in by the gorgeous cover. Apparently, that book has had several covers over the last 15 years, but this is the one I remember:

If you follow me on social media, you'll have seen my posts about this book over the last week. For the most part, they weren't very positive -- until about 20% into the book, I hated the hero. If I could have set him on fire, I probably would have. It was only Ms. Morgan's prose and the fact that I had been looking forward to this book for 6 months that kept me reading. For once, I am glad I was so wrong about a character.

From the PublisherOne man. One woman. Two dogs. Meet Molly—New York's most famous advice columnist, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they're other people's. Still bruised from her last breakup, Molly is in no rush to find happily-ever-after—the only love of her life is her dalmatian, Valentine. Meet Daniel—A cynical divorce …

It seems like I've been reading Karen Rose novels my entire life. I remember the day I came across Count to Ten in the Duane Reade on Queens Blvd. I'd finished the paperback I brought with me to school that day while sitting in the Dining Hall eating lunch and needed something for the long bus ride home. I almost didn't buy it because it was $9.99 and I hadn't gotten my financial aid money yet, but the cover copy called to me. Not even the 500+ page count could scare me away.

I recently learned that Edge of Darkness is Ms. Rose's 20th book and in a strange way, I feel like a proud mama watching her child cross the stage to get their diploma. I'm just a big ball of happy nostalgia, thinking back to all of the other books I've read by her and hopeful about the ones to come, so befor…

The day after Labor Day I woke up to an email from my contacts at St. Martin’s Press, inviting me to review six of their upcoming Christmas books, all of which have release dates in early October. For most people, this would probably be a problem — who wants to think about Christmas before Halloween — but for me, I’ve always had a soft spot for the man in the red suit. Even after I stopped believing in the Christ-Myth, I still loved that one holiday. To me, Christmas represents everything that Thanksgiving is supposed to be, but with better music and no obligatory turkey. Some of my favorite books have a Christmas theme and so I jumped at the chance to review those six books (well, five of them because the sixth has to do with cowboys and if there is one sub-genre I just cannot do is cowboys). I read the first two, With This Christmas Ring by Manda Collins and Deck the Halls by Donna Alward, fairly quickly, especially since they’re both novellas. Both are being released in a little o…

Disclaimer: I wrote this review as a part of a Blog Tour, but have since pulled out of it for obvious reasons. I am not editing the content of the review, so any mentions of the Blog Tour remain.

**** I want to start this review by saying that this is not the type of book I usually read and had I known this, I would not have signed up for this Blog Tour. While it does not appear as if this is being marketed as a "Christian Romance" that is exactly what this is. As a New York-born, California-living Atheist with degrees from two liberal universities, I am not exactly the target demographic for this book (or for this author, for that matter). Despite feeling duped by the marketing, I made the effort to read the entire thing. Honestly, had I stopped at any point before reaching the end,…